Hydrogen and Methane Production from Food Residue Biomass Product (FORBI)

This study concerns the production of Hydrogen and Methane from a Food Residue Biomass (FORBI) product, generated from pre-sorted fermentable household waste in a (CSTR) and in a Periodic Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (PABR) respectively. FORBI is generated by drying and shredding the fermentable fraction of household food waste collected door-to-door in the Municipality of Halandri, Greece.
Hydrogen production from FORBI through anaerobic fermentation under acidogenic mesophilic conditions was carried out using a 4L CSTR, operated at 12 hrs HRT with an organic loading of 15 g TS/L. Volatile fatty acids, TSS, VSS, COD, dCOD, total and dissolved carbohydrates, pH and hydrogen content were evaluated. The H2-CSTR was operated for 40 days. During the operation of H2-CSTR the production of biogas reached up to 0.1026Lbiogas/gFORBI and the percentage of hydrogen in the gas up to 48.2 %.
The conversion of FORBI into methane was carried out through the operation of a 77L PABR operated under mesophilic methanogenic conditions at 10 days HRT and an organic loading of 10 g tCOD/L. TSS, VSS, COD, dissolved COD, pH, VFAs and methane were measured. The mean biogas production rate was 0.158Lbiogas/gFORBI and the mean methane percentage in the biogas was 70.34%.